Ornamenting shears and scissors



(No Model.)

T. B. TERRY.

I ORNAMENTING SHEARS AND SGISSORS.

No. 316,311. 1 Patented Apr. 21, 1885.

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,ATLVENT 7 OFFICE.

TITUS B. TERRY, OF TOLEDO, OHIO.

ORNAMENTING SHEARS AND SCISS ORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters'Patent No. 316,311, dated April21, 1885.

Application filrd March '7, 1884.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it knownthat I, TITUS B. TERRY, of Toledo, in the county of Lucas andState of Ohio, have invented certain improvements in ()rnamenting Shearsand Scissors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to ornamenting and finishing shears and scissors;and it consists in japanning the handles or coating them with rubber,composition, or other substance capable of producing an ornamental anddurable finish and preventing the handles from rusting, and plating theblades or cutting portion with nickel or other suitable metal.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a face view of a pair ofshears embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal sectional view ofone of the blade and handle sections or parts thereof.

In order that my invention may be the more perfectly understood anddistinguished fromwhat has hitherto been done, I may state here thatshears and scissors have hitherto been plated throughout--that is tosay, the plating has been applied both to the handles and to the blades,but never, so far as I am aware, to either alone-and in other cases theblades have been simply polished without plating or coating of any kind,while the handles were japanned or coated with paint, varnish, orcomposition of one kind or another.

Plating the entire shears, including the handles, produces a pleasingeffect, and greatly lessens the chance of rusting, particularly of theblades; but, besides being expensive, the plating of the handles is lesssatisfactory than japanning or coating them with rubber or othercomposition, because, as is well known, minute crevices or intersticesexist in plating, and especially nickel-plating, even when the utmostcare is taken in performing the plating operation, and the naturalmoisture of the hands, which necessarily come into contact with thehandles in using the shears or scissors, soon finds its way through theinterstices to the underlying metal, causing the handles to rust, andthus greatly disfiguring the shears or scissors. This difficulty is notexperienced the blade portions, however, plating is the only feasiblemode of protection, because the blades must be free from any coatingwhich would interfere with the formation or maintenance of a perfectlysharp edge, or which would scale off in use or prevent the freeoperation of the blades one with the other. The plating prevents therusting of the blades, which, if it occurs, greatly impairs theusefulness of the shears or scissors. I therefore plate the blades andjapan the handles orcoat them with rubber, composition, or other finishsusceptible of application in a fluid or plastic state. The point atwhich the plating and the japanning or like finish meet may varysomewhat, but the point where the handles begin to spread outward iscommonly adopted.

Referring to the drawings, A and B indicate the two blades of a pair ofshears, connected by apivot or fulcrum screw, 0, as usual. As moreplainly represented in Fig. 2, the blades are protected and ornamentedby a thin film or layer, a, of nickel or other suitable metal, and thehandles are likewise protected and ornamented by a coating, 1), ofjapanning, rubber, composition, or any equivalent material capable ofproducing a pleasing contrast with the plating of the blades and ofpreventing oxidation or corrosion of the handies.

The shears thus finished are not only better adapted for long-continueduse and less liableto rust than shears finished in any manner hithertoproposed, but they are quite ornamental, and sell in preference even tothe more expensive all-plated shears.

The particular mode of carrying out or practically applying theinvention is comparatively immaterial-that is to say, the blades may beplated first, and the handles coated subsequently, or the handles may becoated first and the blades then plated but the first plan is preferred.

The plating is done in the usual manner by suspending the blade in aplating solution and causing the necessary electric current .to pass,after which the surface is polished as usual.

The japanning is likewise performed in the ordinary way, the varnish orsolution being applied either by immersing the handles therein or withthe aid of a brush, after which the usual baking and finishingoperations are performed. In like manner, if other coating substances orcompositions be employed, they will be applied in the usual way ofapplying them to other articles.

Care must be taken to insure a perfect unison of the plating andjapanning or other coating, as the presence of even a minute openlngbetween them would render them liable to rust at that point. Suchperfect joint was for some time considered and found impracticable; butby dipping the plated portioninto the japanning or other coatingsolution, or applying said solution slightly beyond the line of thepreviously-applied plating, or by thoroughly cleaning the surface of theexposed material after the japanning or other coating isapplied anddipping the parts into the solution slightly above the line of saidcoating, the plating and japanning or coating can be perfectly joined.This I have ascertained by experiment and continued in practice afterbeing advised by various manufacturers that the operation wasimpracticable, and after various attempts had failed.

"In view of the state of the art as above set forth I make no claim,broadly, to the plating of scissors or shears throughout, nor broadlyishing of scissors and shears in the manner described by me, but alsorequires the part to be plated to be raised above the surface to becoated with the fluid or semi-fluid substance, entails a considerablewaste of such substance, and involves operations and expense whollyavoided by my process.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is As a new article ofmanufacture, a pair of shears or scissors having the blades plated witha metal different from that of which they are made, and having theirhandles japanned or coated with equivalent finish.

TITUS B. TERRY.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK L. GEDDES, CLARENCE BROWN.

